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Our scripture text for Sunday is Luke 18:1–8.
The following reflection is provided to aid you in preparation for worship this Sunday...
“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”
Luke 18:1
There’s something odd about the way in which Jesus begins Sunday’s parable. He gave the point of it before He told the story.
In the previous discourse found in Luke 17, Jesus talked about His coming and about the catastrophic events that would attend it and about those times of great pain and torment. It’s not by accident that this parable followed that discourse because Jesus told His people that though He might tarry for a while and His people would suffer persecution, in the midst of that persecution they ought not lose heart, but they ought to be constantly and persistently in prayer.
The kind of prayer Jesus was advocating is not the juvenile type of desultory prayers that a child might make. Rather, Christ called us to deep levels of prayer, the kind of prayer that is mentioned in James when he said, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16). We are called to pray with fervency, with consistency, and with persistence.
That’s what our Lord calls us to here. The circumstances may be crushing to our spirit and seem apparently hopeless for any good ending; nevertheless, we ought to keep praying to our heavenly Father day and night, for He has promised unequivocally to vindicate those who belong to Him.
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